My appeal was also turned down at the state insurance board level--over HealthNet's objections, they did send it to an anonymous reviewer identified only as being an orthopedic spine surgeon associated with a medical school. His comments indicated he either didn't read my appeal or chose to ignore all the points I made, but his opinion was that the procedure is experimental and according to my insurance contract, HealthNet was justified in denying the surgery.
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2001 MVA; C5-C6 disk extruded
ongoing physical therapy, exercise and massage
ESI's, oral prednisone, trigger point injections
foraminal and central stenosis C5/C6 and c6/C7
2007 EMG/nerve conduction shows pattern of chronic radiculopathy
January, 2008: Prestige ST Artificial Disk Replacement, C5/6
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